Maybe that's part of why I don't understand other writers' need for external validation. Maybe that's part of why I dislike writers and artists depending on AI.
And it goes back to trusting your muse.
I often refer to my Subconscious as my muse. And for her to do her magic, I need to sleep.
After the extra sleep post surgeries, the internal brain switch flicked into insomnia for the last week and a half. Which is as bad as oversleeping. *sigh*
However, I have done very little new writing since before Thanksgiving between re-editing the third volume of Millersburg Magick Mysteries and dealing with the eye surgeries.
And with the last couple of nights of normal 8-9 hours of sleep, Subconscious has been weaving her magick tapestry. I've woken up and immediately wanted to start on the stories she suggested. At least the ones I can legally write about. LOL But it's her hint that she's ready to get back to work.
So for me, doing the little things to protect the work include appropriate sleep, a working laptop. and never showing a story to anyone until it's done.
YMMV
You'd think with the advent of Amazon's Kindle and other indie publishing routes writers would trust their own instincts. But nope. Writers as a collective don't trust their own skills to write a good story, but we don't.
Instead of relishing our freedom under the new paradigm, we recreate the same psychological obstacles that had been inflicted on us through trad publishing.
Writing by committee has transformed from the publishing house editor and your agent to beta readers and book doctors. The problem is the writers using this method feel they need outside validation in order to succeed in this industry.
Under a similar outside validation need are reviews. Writer beg for reviews. However, those reviews, both good and bad, affect the writers in the worse ways. If the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, the writer stops learning and experimenting. They fear changing their style, but that style becomes stale over time, and they lose readers. Or if the writer receives bad reviews. they often quit doing something they loved, even become suicidal due to the perceived rejection.
No one likes everything, and a story won't be liked by everyone. Invariably every writer gets bad reviews. However, many of these reviews have nothing to do with the writer's actual work. In fact, reviews are often weaponized for a multitude of reasons, including jealousy and hatred.
Seriously, my favorite bad review of my own claimed I wrote anti-white, feminazi propaganda. And this was for a superhero story.You've got to laugh at people who take things so passionately the opposite of a work's intent.
I believe a lot of this need for outside validation stems from a fear of failure But outside assessments have nothing to do with a writer's success or failure. In the long run, using other people to review your work, whether prior to or after publication, is no guarantee of success, money, validation or whatever need isn't being met in the writer's soul.
Write what's in your heart, what entertains you, and/or the story you haven't seen in your that tickles your fancy. Most of all, enjoy the process.
Needless to say, Princess Bella does not mess around during her constitutional. Even wearing her winter coat, she races out to do her business and races back to the house. She's spent the entire weekend either curled up on DH's lap or tucked under my laptop in order to stay warm.
She still refuses to wear the matching boots I bought for her. We've been checking her feet to make sure there's no frostbite.
And I'm beginning to believe I was a bear or some other hibernating mammal in a previous life. My attempt to reset my internal clock over the weekend has not worked. DH had to wake me up in time for my beloved Steelers playoff game this afternoon. While we watch the game, the local Toldeo station is already display school closings and delays for tomorrow.
Yeah, tomorrow will be a good day for hot coffee/tea and writing.
When I am awake, I've got a load of household chores staked up thanks to the cataract surgeries. I'm slowly wrapping holiday packages and sending them out to friends and family. And putting things back in order now that GK and Grandpuppy are back home in Texas again.
Once this weekend's storm is over, I need to start setting my alarm and going to the local Starbucks in the mornings to write. It may mean sleeping the rest of the afternoon away, but it would let me be a little more productive.
I hope.
In the meantime, play it safe this weekend, folks. Stay home and stay warm while Winter Storm Gerri roars through the country. Few things are important enough to put your life and the lives of the first responders in danger.
Instead, make your favorite hot beverage, cuddle with your loved ones and/or furbabies, and watch something awesome. In our case, it will be the NFL payoff games.
Assuming I can stay awake.
I thought I'd get a ton of stuff done today since I was up at a reasonable time. Instead, the pups and I fell asleep. The pups until they had to pee. Me until eight p.m.
Yep, I slept the day away. *groan*
I think most of it was collective exhaustion. I've been running around to numerous doctors' appointments for the last month. Dropping off cars for maintenance and repairs and picking them up. Throw in family get-togethers once everyone was over their Christmas colds while the kids are still home for the holidays. And now that my eyes have healed enough, I've been FINALLY wrapping and delivering or shipping presents.
And it doesn't help that I've been trying to cut back on caffeine.
But I think my introverted self is developing a lower tolerance for being around people. These are people I like for crying out loud, not people I can't tolerate. I mean we had brunch with friends who may go out to Vegas with us for renewing our vows.
But tonight, it's just DH, GK, and me, and the guys were hungry by the time I woke up. So, we splurged tonight and got some pizza before we kicked back and watched a couple of episodes of Jeopardy. The guys are now playing PC games while I go through my snail mail and email.
And then, I'll definitely get some writing done. LOL
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1 The kids working at our local McDonald's get a kick out of me ordering an Egg McMuffin and telling them to substitute the Canadian bacon this way. I'm not a fan of smoked pork chop on my breakfast sandwich.
Why? Because I'm realizing how little time I still have on this planet. Watching family and friends lose their mobility sucks. And I realize I may have the same problems within the next twenty years, which doubly sucks.
For the past three weeks, DH has had to drive me everywhere. Even to Starbucks. I really don't like feeling helpless, but when I can't even go out and buy my own dang cup of peppermint, it feels even worse.
But today, I drove my car home from the shop after the new brakes were installed. And I felt the same power I felt when I got my very first apartment,
And it was a most excellent feeling!
What I needed to do was go back and re-read the last couple of chapters of the wips in order to remember where I'd left off back at Thanksgiving. I didn't get as much writing done on our vacation as I'd hoped. Before we left, DH was rather passe about what he wanted to do or see in Las Vegas. But when we got there...
He had something scheduled for every day. Or multiple things for a day. It was such a hectic schedule I ended up napping quite a bit in our car.
So it feels good and weird at the same time to be writing again.
I'm considering participating another challenge Dean Wesley Smith is running this year--2024 words per day for 2024. The buy-in is $600, which would light a fire under my butt. In theory, the challenge is totally doable. I just don't want to tempt the Great God Murphy into throwing another life roll at me,
2023 was pretty good because I was taking it easy. Or I was until I decided to do the Witchstarter at the last minute. Then, I ended up in a surgical bay with a laser cutting up my bad eye lenses.
I know the readers will be all for it. More books for them after all! But I want plenty of time to make sure the stories are good.
So, it's something to think about for the next two days before sign-ups close. For those writers who want to check out Dean's challenge, here's the details in his own words.
